Hurricane shutters are well known in the art and are usually made from a rigid material such as aluminum or wood and sometimes plastic. These devices are expensive to purchase, cumbersome and heavy. Further, these shutters prevent visibility either in or out of the building. These shutters are manufactured and installed to provide the protection required by the building codes of particular geographic areas. The building codes are based on standardized testing to meet certain standards of strength and integrity.
The prior art also teaches the use of knitted or woven fabrics such as tarpaulins, drop cloths, blankets and netting for securing smaller vehicles and objects against high winds. Such fabric devices are shown in the following patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,876; U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,888; U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,122; U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,395; U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,527; U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,816; U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,184; U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,714; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,768. The Sporta patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,794, is typical of these fabric type protection devices. The patent discloses a porous fabric that extends downwardly and outwardly from the top of the building to be protected at an acute angle so as to surround a substantial portion of each of the sides with an inclined wind permeable planter surface. The device is disclosed as fifty percent to ninety percent open. Any reduction in wind reaching the covered structure will be slight because of this porosity. The device may be somewhat effective in reducing damage caused by the impact of some debris.
The prior art does not show a convenient and easy mechanism for storing the flexible wind barriers so that they may be deployed quickly and easily.
This patent is related to Ser. No. 10/033,030 filed Nov. 9, 2001 the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
Thus, what is lacking in the art is a flexible protective barrier constructed from a mesh material that can be easily stored and deployed for protecting the frangible portions of a structure from not only objects carried by the wind but also the force of the wind itself.